


The Favored Son

by Buffintruder



Series: fake dating au [3]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aromantic, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Other, aro ling, found family over birth family, rich people, shitty parents
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27065134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buffintruder/pseuds/Buffintruder
Summary: All Ling wants out of his visit home is to survive the week in one piece and get his parents off his back. He doesn’t want their attempts to make him stay for good or to have nagging doubts about his relationship with his sort of fake, technically real husband, but unfortunately life is not so accommodating
Relationships: Greed & Ling Yao
Series: fake dating au [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1557304
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t really have any idea what rich Chinese families lifestyles are like, so I apologize for any inaccuracies, and please let me know if there’s anything wrong that I can easily change.  
> Title taken from the song of the same name by the Mechanisms because I spent several months trying to think of a title, and this is all I’ve got  
> The first part of the series takes place between this first chapter and the next because I planned the chronology of this series poorly. In my defense, I genuinely did not think I would ever write out all of the ‘Ling returns to China’ story

Objectively speaking, the Yao family’s private jet was the height of luxury. Sleek couches lined the sides of one room with cushions so soft that Ling had spent two hours absentmindedly stroking one while watching a movie on the large TV screen. The room next to it had a snack bar with a wide range of sweet and savory treats that had likely taken a chef a full day to make, specifically picked out to be all his favorite childhood snacks, which his brain found a bit creepy even if his stomach rejoiced. There was even a bed with silk sheets in the back. Even though Ling couldn’t normally sleep on planes, the mattress was comfortable enough that under less stressful circumstances, that probably wouldn’t have been a problem here.

Ling hated every inch of it.

“This is like Crazy Rich Asians if they actually whitewashed the protagonist like those movie people wanted to,” Ling muttered, shifting in his seat. Even with the seat belt strapped around him, it was far more comfortable than most regular chairs he had been in, which just wasn’t fair. “Also made him gay. Am I the love interest in this story?”

Greed stared at Ling blankly from the seat across from him. The plane hit a bump as it descended, and Ling flinched.

“This is exactly why I never wanted to be in a rom com,” Ling said, rubbing his eyes. Whether it was from the stress or the long flight, everything felt fuzzy, and he couldn’t tell if he was nauseous or not.

“Good thing we aren’t?” Greed said.

“No, we definitely are,” Ling said, putting his head in his hand. His elbow sunk into the cushioned armrest, and he hated that too. Pressure was building up in his ears, but he didn’t bother to try popping them. “I’m so sorry for dragging you into this. My family’s going to hate you. You’re wonderful, but they’re going to hate you because they’re awful and hate everyone who isn’t like them. Hopefully, you’ll mostly only really have to interact with my parents. They’re a lot, but not nearly as overwhelming as all fifty million of my cousins and aunts and uncles and associated people.”

“Please,” Greed said with a snort. “My self-esteem can take a hit.”

Ling smiled weakly. “Your self-esteem would need a rocket to dent it.”

“There we go then, nothing to worry about.” 

Greed had agreed to it despite all of Ling’s warnings, he reminded himself.

After years with almost zero contact, his parents had latched onto the double excuse of Ling getting married and graduating, calling him endlessly with every guilt trip and temptation they could think of. Ling was pretty sure that if he hadn’t told them he was going to come back when he did, they would have started sending people after him. 

There was a part of him that was almost tempted to just go along with what they wanted and return to Beijing for good. That part of him had never wanted to leave in the first place, feeling some connection of duty tying him there. It wouldn’t stop the pestering, but maybe he could make some use of the power and money his parents had and actually do some good with it. But then Lan Fan would be disappointed in him, and Greed would be heartbroken without him, and Ling was too selfish to give up the life he was currently enjoying.

“Just. Sorry in advance,” Ling said. “They’re dicks, and I know I’m asking a lot of you.”

“Asking me to what, play nice for some assholes?” Greed asked. “I do that at work all the time, kid. I’ll manage. I’m not going to embarrass you in front of your family.”

“It’s not that. At this point, I genuinely could not care less about what they think,” Ling said, and that was mostly true. Even if he had cared, there was nothing Greed could do to make his family not judge him, so there wouldn’t be any point in worrying over it. “They’ll probably make some attempt at civility for the sake of appearances. My parents will at least. I don’t know about the rest of them, but with any luck we’ll only see them during the welcome back party tomorrow.”

It wasn’t technically a welcome back party, since that would require his parents to draw attention to the fact that he had been gone for the past three and a half years, but Ling knew the timing was no coincidence. He wasn’t sure why his parents thought a large, fancy party would be the best way to welcome him, but maybe they thought a taste of what he had missed out on would make him want to stay. They had never really bothered to know him all that well.

“Alright, sure,” Greed said, looking a little bemused. The plane hit the ground with a small thump.

“I mean, I’m their only son,” Ling said. “They aren’t going to be that awful to me because they want me to come back and inherit everything, otherwise it’ll probably go to a couple cousins of mine, and no one likes them.” 

“Convenient,” Greed said.

“They’ll probably want you gone, but hopefully we can get out of here before that manifests in anything more than a few disapproving looks and snide comments.”

“Sounds like a fun lot.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Ling sighed, before remembering who he was talking to. “Well, maybe _you_ do.”

“I never brought anyone home to my dad, so I wouldn’t know,” Greed said. He grinned. “I told Lust last month that I got married, and she _freaked_.”

Ling raised an eyebrow. He knew Greed and Lust occasionally exchanged emails, though they fought too often for it to be all that regular. He wasn’t sure if it was more surprising that Greed had taken several months to tell her or that he had told her at all. “Did she say anything about it?”

“Mostly that she couldn’t believe someone like me managed to con someone into marrying me,” Greed said. There was nothing in his tone to indicate he was thinking something he wasn’t saying, but Ling still felt a small twinge in his chest. Their marriage was sort of a con, after all, even if Ling had meant it sincerely. “There’s still no way I’m letting any of them near my life though.”

“So we only have to do this ‘meet the family’ thing once then,” Ling said. “Thank god.”

The plane gradually coasted to a halt. Ling had been on planes enough for this part to be a routine, and it was easy to let time pass in a sleepy haze as he went through the motions. He barely took notice of what was going on as he unloaded his luggage and finally got off the plane, lost in the whirlpool of his own mind. He didn’t start taking significant notice of what was going on beyond him until he and Greed got past customs and into the general airport area.

Ling could easily pick out Mei standing right outside the gate, her bright pink jacket marking her out among the crowd. He made his way towards her, scanning the nearby faces to see if there was anybody else familiar.

“I convinced your parents to let me be the only one to meet you here,” she said in greeting once they were close enough to hear her.

“I owe you my life,” Ling said fervently. He was already about a quarter way to falling asleep, and his backpack, which had seemed light enough when he packed it, now dug into his shoulders as if it were full of stones. Trying to deal with his parents on top of that might have completely crushed him. He had never felt more grateful to a person before.

“I’ll remember that,” Mei said, smirking a little. Her expression softened. “It’s good to see you again. This is your husband, I assume.”

“I’m Greed,” he drawled.

“Hm,” Mei said, giving Greed a skeptical look. “He’s exactly the kind of person I expected you’d marry.” She grabbed the suitcase Ling had let go of and started heading toward the elevators.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ling said indignantly as he caught up to her.

“Nothing,” Mei said, blinking at him. Her cute and innocent look wasn’t nearly as effective now that she was on the later side of her teens. “He’s going to get eaten alive.”

“Thanks,” Ling said sarcastically, feeling oddly defensive. Greed might be exactly the kind of person his family hated, but he was also tough enough to hold his own. Just because Ling didn’t want to put Greed in this situation in the first place didn’t mean Greed couldn’t make it out in one piece. “Which floor?”

Mei pressed one of the parking level buttons, and the elevator doors slid shut.

“I mean how bad can it be?” Greed asked after a moment. “I’ve literally been stabbed by at least two of my siblings. Wait, no, three, but Lust barely counts. It was only once, and I didn’t even need stitches.”

Mei had started to get off but halted to stare at him, and Ling hurried to push the elevator button to keep the doors from closing on her. “That’s messed up, dude.”

“You’re telling me?” Greed asked, coming to a stop next to her. “I get terrible families. Not the same brand of terrible, but my dad did name his kids after the seven deadly sins, so that should tell you something about my childhood.”

“I’m glad we all have something in common,” Ling said, trying not to let sarcasm sharpen his tone. “Now are we going to go to the hotel or what?” They could have this conversation just as easily inside the car as outside of it.

“Um,” Mei said. Her eyes darted to him and then away. “Your parents…. they may have contacted the hotel you reserved a room at and cancelled it.”

“Well, fuck.” Ling was overcome with the urge to scream or sink to the ground. His insides felt like they were crumbling, and it seemed to take all he had just to remain upright. He knew he shouldn’t have been all that surprised by this, but he did not have the energy for this right now. Over the past few years, he had grown used to being as independent as he wanted, with Fu and Pinako around if he needed an actual adult to help with something, while never being an overbearing presence. He had only just stepped foot in China and his parents were already trying to control his life. “I was hoping to put off seeing them until tomorrow.”

“No such luck,” Mei said sympathetically. She patted his arm and began leading them through the rows of cars. “I can drive you home the long way, if you want.”

“No, might as well get this over with,” Ling said reluctantly. “It’s 4:00 in the morning in my time zone, and I’m tired.”

“Alright then,” Mei said. She stopped in front of a small gray car, pulling her keys out to unlock it and open the trunk. 

“You’re driving?” Ling asked, which in retrospect was really something he should have wondered about long before this moment.

“Yeah, I just got my driver’s license a couple months ago.”

“Congratulations,” Ling said. “Please don’t kill us.”

“Huh,” Greed said. “This is like a normal person car.”

“It _is_ a normal person car,” Mei said. “I’m the illegitimate commoner offspring, so no fancy limousines for me.”

“Don’t look so disappointed,” Ling told Greed. “Believe me, you’ll see more than enough excesses of wealth to last a lifetime.”

“I _like_ excesses of wealth,” Greed pointed out.

“Not like this,” Ling said.

The ride to Ling’s childhood home was just under an hour long, but it still passed too quickly as he dozed against the side of the car. At least Mei and Greed appeared to be getting on, he noted blearily. He could use a family member who was fully on his side during this whole disaster.

Ling was half asleep by the time they arrived, only shifting out of his drowsiness at Greed’s impressed whistle. “Damn, you lived here?”

“Unfortunately,” Ling muttered.

“Sucks to be you, rich boy,” Mei said, and Ling rolled his eyes.

“Believe me, if I could distribute this to the people, I would,” Ling muttered. Guilt twisted his insides. There was some nostalgia at the place he had spent so much of his childhood, but especially now that he had gone out to live a more normal life, it was much harder to ignore how counter to his morals this place and everything it stood for was. And that was just considering the surface level stuff, as it was hardly unlikely for his parents to have accumulated some of their wealth through unethical means beyond simply legally-approved exploitation. He tried not to think about it too much since he couldn’t actually do anything about any of it unless both his parents were dead and he inherited everything.

Reluctantly, he climbed out of the car. He imagined the thud of the door closing to be like that of a coffin lid, before mentally shaking himself out of his dramaticness. This wasn’t actually death, Ling reminded himself. He would be flying back home in just a week, assuming his parents didn’t cancel his plane tickets too. He had specifically bought those himself so he wouldn’t have to rely on his parents’ jet to take him back.

Already, there was a manservant standing outside the car. He bowed to the three of them, before taking the luggage from the trunk and placing it onto a cart.

“This is like one of those fancy hotels,” Greed said, impressed.

“We better go inside,” Ling said glumly.

“Well then, this is where I leave you to it,” Mei said, far too cheerfully for Ling’s tastes.

“Coward,” he grumbled.

She snorted. “I need to save all my strength for the banquet tomorrow. Good luck, both of you. You’ll need it.”

Ling stuck his tongue out at her.

She waved jauntily at him, then got back in the car.

Ling sighed, leading Greed past the fountain toward the front entrance. “Come on.”

A small set of marble stairs led up to a pair of dark wooden doors between two Greek-style columns, bold against the creamy white exterior of the mansion. He had used to run up and down those stairs all the time as a kid, too impatient to simply walk to places, Ling remembered suddenly. At least he had until the time he had fallen and cut his leg on the sharp edge of the stairs. Everyone had been a lot more careful to stop him from running after that.

He grabbed the handle, took a breath, and opened the door.

“Ling!” his mother cried, her arms outstretched. It was the perfect picture of a familial reunion, if one ignored the manservant standing by the entrance and the huge entry hall with its sweeping staircase and jeweled chandelier.

“Hello,” Ling said, allowing himself to be embraced.

“It’s been too long. And this must be your husband.” She released him and looked at Greed, her expression carefully neutral.

Of course she had already formed an opinion of his spouse, even though Ling had offered absolutely zero details during their phone calls. Probably the fact that he existed was bad enough for her.

“Yep!” Ling said, with all the brightness he could muster. He linked his arm with Greed’s. This close, he could feel the stiffness of Greed’s posture, not that Ling could blame him. “We’re just going to go up now. It was such a long flight, you know... We’re both very tired.”

“I’ll have someone show... Greed to a guest room,” his mother said.

“Oh, it’s no trouble,” Ling said. The familiar act of false politeness settled back onto his shoulders. Ling thought he probably should be concerned at how easy it was to slip back into this role after nearly four years of trying to forget it. “He is my husband, after all, not some friend I’m having for a sleepover.”

“Ling,” his mother said, like he was acting unreasonable. Ling had not missed that tone. Even after all this time, it apparently could still make him feel so small.

“Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve been here,” Ling sighed, pretending not to hear. He looked around the entry hall, eyes lingering on the familiar vases and pieces of art. “Greed, don’t you want to see the bed I spent all my teenage years in?” He raised his eyebrows and smirked.

“Ling!” his mother exclaimed. She made a quick recovery. “Aren’t you going to properly introduce us?”

“Mom, this is my husband, Greed,” Ling said, as politely as if he was introducing Greed to a business associate. “Greed, my mother.”

“Hey,” Greed said, with a nod. He sounded casual, but Ling knew him better than that. Greed was never this quiet, ever. Ling supposed he should be grateful, since it would result in slightly less tension this way, but mostly Ling just hated that he had played any part in making Greed act so subdued.

“I’ve heard so little about you,” his mother said blandly. “How did you meet?”

“He’s the cousin of my roommate from freshman year,” Ling said. “We both got invited to Ed’s Thanksgiving dinner.” At least that was respectable without him having to lie.

“I see,” she said. Ling would have been impressed at how unrevealing her face was, except she was the one who had taught him how to hide his own feelings. “I’ll have Greed shown to a room. After so long, I want to spend some time catching up with my only son.”

Ling did some quick mental calculations. This wasn’t worth fighting over when he knew plenty of other issues would come up later on. He was too tired for any long conversation with her, but if they were alone, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about Greed being hurt by anything that was said. Surviving a few minutes with his mother would be worth it, to gain some leeway in the future. He turned to the manservant standing blank-faced near the entrance next to all their luggage.

“Could you show him to my room?” Ling asked.

“Of course.”

“It’s the third room to the left, in the right wing,” Ling told Greed, just in case his mother’s command took precedence over his own. He looked at the manservant. “Thank you!”

The manservant bowed and gestured at Greed to follow.

Ling watched them go before walking into an adjoining room with his mother, seating himself on a hard-backed chair. This whole room had been redesigned in his absence, and it was strangely disconcerting. All the furniture was new, and the European paintings of ponds had been replaced by Chinese ones of mountains, the walls repainted to match the new color scheme. Part of him had expected this place to remain frozen in time while he was gone, but of course it hadn’t.

“It’s good to see you again, Ling,” his mother said quietly, switching to Mandarin.

“Yeah,” Ling said, looking down to avoid choking up. He wasn’t at all pleased about having to return here, but this had been home for so much of his life. Now that it was all in front of him again, his heart felt strangely fragile, and he couldn’t bear to see whatever expression she might be showing.

“We missed you,” she said, and Ling thought he even caught some genuine feeling in her tone.

“Even dad?” Ling asked, wondering why his mother was the only person to greet him. They had both called him multiple times over the past few months, together and separately.

“I told him to leave you be for tonight,” his mother said. “I didn’t want to overwhelm you or start a fight on your first night.”

“Thank you,” Ling said, reluctantly grateful. His mother had always been a little easier to get along with, though that wasn’t saying a whole lot.

She looked at him and sighed, and Ling instantly took back whatever nice thoughts he might have had towards her. “But really, Ling? _Him?_ I know you’re trying to rebel and prove a point to your father—”

“I didn’t marry Greed to prove a point!” Ling said, his heart beating faster as irritation boiled.

“He’s so... American,” she said, which Ling supposed was the most diplomatic term she could have used there. “And what are you thinking with him? He can’t give you kids. Is this how you repay your parents?”

Ling scoffed. “So of all the things I’ve done, _this_ is the most unfilial.”

“You’ll have to divorce at some point,” she said calmly as if she was speaking common sense and Ling was just being childish. “Isn’t that just inconsiderate to him?”

That statement was just so wrong yet also far too close to home, and Ling’s heart clenched. It wasn’t _Ling_ who was at risk of realizing he could do better than this marriage, he thought. “You do know that this isn’t some temporary thing, right? I’m not a child throwing a tantrum. I’m leaving, and at no point am I going to grow up and change my mind and return to the path you’ve laid out for me, regardless of what happens with Greed.”

His mother sighed, just like she always did when she wanted someone to know that she was far too well-mannered to actually express her disapproval with words. “Alright. I’m sorry to bring this up so soon. I really am glad you’re back.”

“Yeah,” Ling said.

“I heard you graduated from your university,” she said. “Congratulations. I wanted to send you a gift, but you can be so picky. Why don’t we go shopping some time during your visit to pick something out?”

It wasn’t really a request. “Thank you,” Ling said even though he didn’t feel very grateful. He hoped he could get by with choosing some fancy art for his living room or something and some other stuff he could regift to his friends. His parents had tried to give him a vacation house in France for graduating high school, before Ling had infuriated them by running off to some unprestigious college in California.

“What are your plans now that you’ve finished school?”

The question was perfectly casual, but Ling knew his mother far better than that. “I have a job that starts in a few weeks from now.” Telling her outright that he had no plans to return to China now that he was done with college would probably be a bit too aggressive for this early into the trip, but a part of him was tired and spiteful enough to be sorely tempted.

“Oh?”

“Yeah...” Ling let his mouth split open into a large yawn to swallow the word. “I’m sorry, it’s been a long day. I haven’t slept in almost twenty four hours.”

“Of course,” she said, standing up to clasp his arm. “I’ll let you get some rest.”

“Thank you,” Ling said, perfectly apologetic.

“Good night. We can talk more tomorrow. I want us to catch up on everything we’ve missed.”

Ling stifled the urge to scream. “Okay. Good night.”

He left the sitting room and walked up the stairs to his bedroom as fast as he could without being rude. Thankfully, Greed was there when he entered, sitting on the edge of the bed, already dressed for sleep.

“You look like you want to murder someone,” Greed said, frowning.

“I do,” Ling muttered. “I mean not really. But ugh.”

He stared at his room, the place he had once felt the most comfortable in. His bed was still against the wall that he had spent many sleepless nights staring at, and there was the rug he had spent long hours talking to Lan Fan on, and the desk upon which he had done endless amounts of homework, its surface marked with scratches from when he had gotten bored and carved into it with his pen. All of it was untouched from the day he had left it behind. Seeing the sitting room change had been disorientating, but this was almost worse, as if everything that had happened to him since he left hadn’t really mattered.

His time here had not been the best portion of his life, and he didn’t want that horrible nostalgia rising up his throat. This wasn’t a place to be fond of. He just wanted to lie down and never get up again so this all would be nothing more than a bad dream, to just be enveloped by his bed for eternity.

The bed that Greed was currently sitting on.

“Oh,” Ling said, his heart sinking with the realization. “And here we are. The classic ‘there’s only one bed’ trope. I hope you don’t mind. I... forgot to ask if you actually did want the guest room.” His stomach twisted. “I’m sorry.”

Greed shot him an amused look. “Nah, what’s yours is mine.” He laid down, sprawling across the covers.

“Okay, good,” Ling said, though he felt far from it. This was far too much of a rom-com trope for his tastes, though he was trying very hard to keep from thinking about those implications. It would be incredibly ironic if he had spent all this time worrying about how Greed didn’t see their marriage as being as real as Ling did, only to find out that Greed was romantically pining for him all along.

“Your talk go well?”

“As expected,” Ling said, trying not to sound too irritated about it. “My mom is trying to get me to come back here for good. She thinks marrying you is just my rebellious phase. Which isn’t surprising, but still frustrating.” 

The vaguely amused expression that Greed’s face had been resting at disappeared.

“It’s not, obviously,” Ling said. “But staying with you doesn’t fit her idealized view of me.” He knelt by his suitcase, opening it up to dig through it to find the pajamas he had foolishly stuck at the bottom. “Just... one more thing before I forget. Be careful around my family tomorrow at the party. Some of them are chill, but a lot of them are conniving, so just.... keep your guard up.”

“You spend your energy worrying about yourself,” Greed told him. “I know better than to trust some random stranger. I’ve got me covered.”

Ling certainly hoped so.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn’t really a Crazy Rich Asians au, but it also isn’t entirely *not* one, so I put a few small references to it. ~~Astrid is gay and you cannot change my mind~~  
>  A big thanks to Magpie for betaing this and just generally being invaluable to the whole process

The welcome home dinner party was in full swing the next evening. After spending over an hour making the obligatory rounds to introduce Greed to all the most important relatives and acquaintances, Ling had left Greed with Mei in a quieter room towards the back of the house. She could keep him away from any of the truly awful relatives while Ling made at least some attempt to socialize with the people who would be insulted if he didn’t say hi but weren’t necessary for Greed to meet.

The fact that Greed was Ling’s husband was new information to everyone at the party, he had discovered. Apparently his parents hadn’t even mentioned that Ling had gotten married to anyone. 

They could at least be _trying_ to hide their true intention of dragging him back into their lives. Their excuse of having him visit to introduce his husband had proven to be extremely flimsy. He was pretty sure that the only reason they hadn’t asked him to hide Greed’s existence from everyone else was because it would be better to have the truth come out on their own terms than as a secretive scandal. Plus it might shame Ling into divorcing him.

The first person he talked to had been utterly taken aback, but by the time he and Greed moved on to talk to the next person, everyone already knew and had formed their own opinions on it. Ling had forgotten how fast gossip moved. 

Ling had never been the most fond of large parties like this, and it was worse now to have everyone’s eyes on him. Next to Greed, he felt hyperconscious of how much Greed stood out both physically and in his mannerisms, how utterly out of Greed’s comfort zone this was. Ling hated the fact that in contrast, there was a small part of him that felt like he fit in and made sense here in a way he never had while off in America.

It had been a bit of a relief to leave Greed behind, much to Ling’s guilt. He could only hope that Greed was having an easier time of it as well, now that he was slightly out of the spotlight.

Most of the people, once they could be set to talking about something other than Greed, seemed to expect that Ling had come back for good to hold some important position in his father’s business. There was a part of him that wanted to correct their assumptions, just to sow chaos, but then he would have to deal with people asking him questions for the rest of his stay and he didn’t actually want to have to deal with that on top of everything.

His face was starting to hurt from all the polite smiles. He had no idea why he was going through all this effort for people he didn’t care about, except there was a part of him that had been trained too well to let go of all that now.

It all felt particularly hellish compared to their visit to Fu earlier that day. That had been a small and private affair, nothing like a mansion full of a hundred people getting steadily drunker with each passing hour, none of whom Ling actually liked. Fu also would be hurt if Ling didn’t stop by while in the area, but at least that was because he knew Ling actually liked him. He had already gotten over most of his misgivings towards Greed during his visit around the time of their wedding, so Ling hadn’t needed to worry about that either.

“I heard you eloped with some girl in the States,” said Franklin Yao, who had arrived late. Apparently he hadn’t had the chance to get all caught up with the gossip before approaching Ling.

“A guy, actually,” Ling corrected.

“Oh,” Franklin said, blinking. “No wonder you kept it hidden from your parents. Chinese or...?”

“White,” Ling said.

Franklin somehow looked more scandalized at this than at Greed being male, but Ling supposed having a bit of variation was nice. Between the whole group, everyone had so many different reasons to judge him that this one hardly made a dent. “Oh, is he the person I saw guzzling the champagne? He was... very opinionated about it.”

“Probably,” Ling said. As Greed was the only white person in the place, the question seemed a bit unnecessary. “He’s a bartender.”

“You do know that any commoner who gets close to you is probably just doing it for the money, right?” Franklin asked, a little slowly like he thought Ling was rather dumb. “You know how greedy Americans are.”

“Hey, I have plenty of appealing qualities besides my large inheritance,” Ling said, offended.

Franklin shook his head pityingly. “Oh, Ling, so young, so naive.”

“I’m literally one year younger than you,” Ling said. He forced down a scowl and blinked innocently. “Greed married me for my looks, not my money.”

 _“Greed?”_ Franklin stared at him blankly. “How can your husband have a name like that and _not_ be a golddigger?”

“The universe has a very strong sense of irony.”

“Right.” Franklin gave him an expression that seemed to say ‘it’s your problem, not mine.’ “Just don’t come crying back to me if he breaks your heart.”

Ling scoffed, but he couldn’t actually make himself say ‘Greed would never.’ For one thing, it sounded exactly like the kind of thing someone who had been seduced by a golddigger would say. But also he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain.

Greed may have agreed to marry him, but nothing about their circumstances were ordinary. They weren’t even platonic or queerplatonic life partners who had really sat down and thought it out and decided that marriage was an appropriate symbol of their commitment or anything. They had done it because of a fake dating scheme for free food. Ling didn’t think Greed was about to divorce him any time soon or stop being his friend, but he might find someone he cared about more someday, and Ling knew it would hurt to be passed up for second best.

“Ling!” someone interrupted from his right.

Eagerly taking the opportunity to get away from those thoughts and from his conversation with Franklin, Ling turned to his side, scrambling for a name to match the face. She was a Tsai, he thought.

“Oh, Ingrid!” Ling said, the name popping into his head just in time. They had spoken a few times in the past as teenagers, and Ling remembered liking her well enough, though she hadn’t been particularly memorable in any way. Now, she stood out as unique in her genuine excitement to see Ling.

“You don’t know how happy I am to no longer be the only out gay cousin,” she informed him, still smiling widely at him. “Good on you.”

Ling broke out into a grin, relief hitting him with enough force to make him tempted to sag onto the wall next to him. For the first time this evening, someone actually was happy for him and Greed, rather than disapproving or polite or cruelly amused. In contrast to this one unexpected piece of friendliness, the awfulness of the whole evening seemed to weigh a little heavier on him. Ling felt the strange urge to hug her, though he was pretty sure that it was just his stress talking.

Instead of doing that, he said, “Oh, you’re gay?”

“You didn’t hear? It was a big thing last year,” she said.

Ling vaguely noticed Franklin grumble something and leave, but he was too distracted by Ingrid to watch him go.

“I’ve been studiously ignoring everything going on here since I managed to escape to college,” Ling informed her.

“Lucky you,” Ingrid said. “But yeah. The only thing saving me from social death is the fact that I have four older siblings to take up attention, so no one cares much about what I do as long as I do it quietly. I don’t envy you.”

“At least I get some of that ‘boys will be boys, oh I’m sure he’ll settle down later’ attitude to get them off my back a bit for now,” Ling said. Despite having exchanged only a few words with each other, she was already one of his favorite relatives. It might purely have been him latching onto the first kind face he saw, but he didn’t care.

“God, yeah. My parents are pretty cool, thankfully, but one of my aunts is always on about ‘the proper duties of women’ and all,” she said, rolling her eyes. “He’s not what I expected though. Your Greed makes my girlfriend look like a delicate maiden in comparison, so thanks for giving me ammunition to get people off my back about it. If you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead,” Ling said, wondering if he should be offended or pleased on Greed’s behalf. “Queer solidarity, am I right?”

She beamed at him. “He is your actual husband, right? Not just someone you brought here to piss everyone off?”

“I couldn’t have picked a better person to do that,” Ling mused. “But no, he really is my husband.” Though they weren’t actually in love with each other, Ling thought a bit guiltily. He generally tried to lie about this only to people with whom there was little chance he would continue interacting with to avoid things backfiring, but he didn’t want to risk someone overhearing. Maybe he could tell her later, if they ended up staying in touch. “What’s your girlfriend like? I haven’t met her, have I?”

“I don’t think so,” she said. “Caihong Chu from Taiwan?” Ling shook his head. “New money, so my parents aren’t thrilled, but could be worse. Could be your guy.”

“I’m kind of surprised everyone didn’t already know about Greed,” Ling admitted. “My parents knew I got married even though I never said anything, but most people here were surprised to hear I was going to college in the US, much less that I have a husband now.”

“Your parents have been kind of secretive,” Ingrid said. “I’m kind of surprised they let you bring him to the party. Even if you are sort of hiding him away.”

“I didn’t want him to get caught up in all this,” Ling said, gesturing around him. “And I think my parents figured my love life would be a much smaller scandal than me just leaving them all behind for good. Like how long will it take for someone else to have some flashier, newer romance drama and for the gossip cycle to move on? Meanwhile, they’ll never hear the end of me ditching them.”

Ingrid snorted. “Fair enough. People probably would have asked more questions when you first left, but no one really noticed at first and then there was that bribery scandal that happened a month or so afterwards, and everyone got distracted by that.”

Ling frowned, his heart already starting to sink. “Bribery scandal?”

“You really have been out of the loop haven’t you,” Ingrid said, raising an eyebrow at him. “Some information leaked out and it turns out your parents may have bribed important government officials, but no solid evidence. You know the drill.” 

“Oh,” Ling said. He did indeed know the drill. It wasn’t entirely impossible that his parents were actually innocent, but with how these things tended to go, it was rather unlikely.

“I’m surprised it even got to the press,” she said. “Normally that kind of thing stays undercover or gets hushed up before it can get anywhere, but rumors have still been going around. Apparently it’s getting picked up again too. Caihong’s sister owns a news company, and she says it’s because elections are coming up and one of those politicians’ rival is digging around for new evidence.”

“Oh.” Ling had always known that it was likely that there was some shady or unethical business that his parents were up to, probably multiple things. And with his parents being the kind of people they were, the thought shouldn’t have been a surprise. It didn’t really seem all that worse than stuff they already got up to legally. But since he had never had any solid proof of anything, he had always preferred to keep his head down and not think about it. There wasn’t much he could do without getting involved in their business himself, and he had always figured he was more likely to be corrupted by it or burn himself out than to improve it.

“But yeah,” Ingrid said, shrugging. “I don’t know the details.”

“Fair,” Ling said, though his stomach still felt like it was sinking. It was something he should probably look into to see if it really was true, something that he felt like he had a duty to stop if it was, even though he wasn’t sure how he would. They were his parents, after all. 

There was a part of him that was certain this must be true and that he had always known something like it was true, a part of him that felt that waiting to reserve judgement on it until he had proof was just a cowardly way of avoiding the topic. But he was also jetlagged and worn out and stressed in a dozen different ways, and he really did not want to think about it. 

“So what’s the whole story with you coming out and everything?” he asked, which was such an obvious change of topics that it would have earned his mother’s disapproval. “Since apparently I missed all that drama too.”

They chatted for a while and exchanged phone numbers. It wasn’t often that Ling wanted to talk to a family member multiple times, so he would treasure the few he could.

He had probably talked to enough people for it to be acceptable for him to stay by Greed’s side and out of the way for the rest of the evening, he figured, heading back to the corner he had left him.

“These are nice cups,” Greed was telling Mei approvingly when Ling finally found them in the drinks room. “Do you think Ling’s parents’d let me take some back for my bar?”

“Probably not,” Ling said, ignoring the nasty look an uncle was giving them.

“Can’t say I’m surprised that the Yao kid, of all people, ended up with someone like _him_ ,” the uncle muttered, loudly enough for them to be able to hear him. He had been speaking Cantonese a moment before, but this comment had been in English.

Greed straightened his shoulders, fire in his eyes, but Ling grabbed his arm.

“Don’t bother,” Ling said, though he was strangely pleased under the concern. Greed never got angry at people who insulted him. This wasn’t the first time Greed had shown some indication of being willing to fight someone on Ling’s behalf, but it felt different here with his family. Ling had grown so used to handling them on his own or with just Lan Fan. She always had his back but also knew to make as little fuss as possible.

Greed didn’t relax, but he turned his head away from the uncle to look at Ling.

“Your husband has been swinging between roguishly charming and ready to fight everyone in this room all evening,” Mei told him. “Like I said before, I’m so not surprised you married him.”

“I’m sorry for bringing you into this, Greed,” Ling said for what felt like the hundredth time. He put on a grin, hoping it didn’t look as hollow as it felt. “Though I did always wonder what it would feel like to have someone fight for my hand and or honor. As a kid, I assumed that person would be Lan Fan.”

“I already have your hand,” Greed pointed out. “I would fight someone for your honor though, if you want?”

“Well, if someone challenges you to a duel, feel free to accept,” Ling said dryly. He glanced at the uncle who had insulted them, but he had gone off to bother someone else. “Otherwise probably best not. I think I’m the one who should be fighting for your honor anyway. My reputation was tarnished here long before you came along.”

Mei rolled her eyes at them. “You can both fight for each other, just don’t expect me to get involved.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Ling said. Then he sighed. “Though speaking of people we want to fight... I really should introduce you to my dad. He’ll be pissed if I don’t, since my mom convinced him to wait this long to see us in person.”

“Sure thing,” Greed said. “I’m surprised you took this long to get around to it.”

“Just avoiding the inevitable,” Mei said, but it was more sympathetic than her usual tone.

“Yeah...” Ling waved mournfully at her. Looking back to make sure Greed was following, he set off in the direction of the sitting room where his father tended to spend most parties at, weaving his way around various clusters of people and doing his best to nod politely at people without implying he was willing to converse with them. “After this, we just have to hang around for long enough that people don’t think we’re ditching early.”

“Okay,” Greed said.

Ling thought about it. “Well, _I_ need to. You could probably go after this. Less social obligation and all that.”

“Instead of what, standing around and looking pretty?” Greed snorted. “I could do that all night.”

Ling poked his head past the arched doorway into the sitting room, and immediately spotted his father who stood up and walked toward him. Normally, he liked having people come to him rather than the other way around, but Ling had a feeling he didn’t want his friends and business partners to witness his first interaction with his new son-in-law.

“Ling,” his father said when he reached the doorway. There wasn’t really privacy here in the wide hallway, but between the small orchestra playing at the other end and the murmur of people talking nearby, there was enough noise to give some amount of cover.

“Hi, dad,” Ling said, not sure what else to say. He had never particularly gotten on with either of his parents, but his father had always been more distant than his mom. “This is my husband, Greed.”

His father nodded and gave Ling a look that promised there would be words later. “Your mother told me to give you the chance to approach me, but this is hardly the place for a reunion,” he said in Mandarin. “Do you plan on staying here long?”

“No, I don’t plan on staying long,” Ling said, pointedly sticking to English. He felt too conscious of the way his father hadn’t even spared Greed a glance. “I’m going back home at the end of the week.”

“Haven’t you finished your school?” he asked. He was still speaking Mandarin.

“Yes, I finished school,” Ling said, fighting the urge to look at Greed. “But I want to keep living there.”

“Hmm,” his father said, a little skeptically. “Alright. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Ling said, relieved that this conversation was brief. Talking to all those relatives and such had already been draining enough. He just needed to avoid the house as much as possible for the next few days, which he hoped wouldn’t be too hard. His father would voice his many opinions at Ling sooner or later on this trip, but the more he could put it off, the less time his father would have to give as many of them.

With one last nod, his father turned back into the room, and Ling let out his breath.

“I’ve met angry drunks more polite than that,” Greed said, his eyebrows narrowed.

“I’m sorry,” Ling said, wanting to sink onto the floor just a bit.

Greed waved a hand at him. “Please, my father would have been a thousand times worse.”

“He’s probably going to yell at me a bit, once we’re in private,” Ling admitted. “But hopefully you won’t have to be there for that. I think he’s just annoyed that my mom told him to stay out of the way until now, even though we all know that was the right call. At least with other people around, there’s outside pressure to keep the tension down, and hopefully some of that will drain away by the time we actually talk.”

Greed glared at the direction of the sitting room.

“Come on, let’s go back to Mei,” Ling said, grabbing Greed’s hand and tugging him back through the hall. “‘Sit around and look pretty,’ like you said you’re so good at.” He tried a smile.

“The best,” Greed said with a smirk, though it felt a bit false. His fingers curled around Ling’s.

“How was it earlier tonight when I was off elsewhere?” Ling asked. “Anyone give you too much trouble?”

“Nah,” Greed said. “I mean just about everyone was condescending or didn’t seem to know what to do with me, but nothing bad.”

There was a part of Ling that wanted to set fire to this entire house with everyone inside of it, which was perhaps a bit of an unreasonable reaction, but it had been a very long couple of days.

“We’re almost through the worst of it,” Ling murmured, hoping that by saying it, it would be true.

They reached Mei again right where they had left her. She raised an eyebrow at their hands, and Ling’s heart stopped at the full realization of what he had just done. He let go, trying his best to make it seem natural. He hadn’t held enough hands to know how the etiquette worked, but he managed not to jerk away from Greed, so that was something at least.

Mei was smart enough not to say the word “fake” within hearing distance of so many gossipy relatives, but she had a slight teasing smile.

Ling couldn’t bear to look at Greed and see his reaction. Taking his hand had been instinctive, which was probably something he would have to examine later. But Greed had kept holding on, and Ling had absolutely no idea what _that_ meant. If it meant anything at all. Maybe it didn’t; they were trying to act like a married couple after all, and the two of them were not all that shy with physical contact, even if walking around holding hands was a first for them.

“So, Mei,” he said because he needed something to take his mind off this now before his thoughts spiralled any further. “What do you think is the best way to make sure no one else talks to us for the rest of the evening?”

* * *

It was only his third full day here, and Ling was already starting to hate the evenings.

The afternoon of the second day hadn’t been _great_ exactly, with the hours-long shopping trip with Greed and his mother, but it was overshadowed by his father catching him while he was trying to sneak back inside and finally making them talk. The scolding had soon turned into a heated argument, and the only good thing Ling could say about that was that at least Greed hadn’t been there.

The earlier parts of this day had been a lot better than any of the others. He had been driven by jet lag to wake up horrifically early once again, which was less than ideal, but it had been kind of nice to watch the sunrise from his bedroom window.

Later, he and Greed had taken an expensive car, since Greed was still delighted by those, and gone out to the city. He had shown Greed around the places he used to spend time in, including one of his favorite restaurants for lunch, sharing the memories each place had brought back.

It felt strangely revealing to show another person the place he had called home for so long, the place that had shaped him the most. His parents had many properties, and Beijing wasn’t the only place he had grown up in, but Lan Fan had lived here, so this was where he had the fondest memories of.

Despite the stress of returning to see his parents after spending so long trying to get away, he didn’t actually hate the city. It had been nice to come back to the familiar sights and sounds and smells. There were a few hours during which Ling thought that maybe this trip was almost worth it, to be able to come here with Greed. Maybe after all this was over, he could still come back to Beijing with Greed when his parents were out of town and show him the stuff they didn’t have the time to get to during this visit.

Except now night had fallen, and Ling was seated in the grand but still comfortably sized private dining room with his parents. It had taken only one look at their faces for Ling to remember exactly why this was no vacation.

The table was large enough to seat eight people, and with just the four of them, the room felt empty. Even the two maids standing at attention near the entrance of the room only served to make him feel more exposed. None of this felt right, and Ling hadn’t quite realized until now how much he had grown used to the private, cozy meals of his home with Greed. Growing up, he had automatically ignored the watching eyes and the gaping silence between pauses in stiff conversation, but now they held his attention as much as blaring sirens would.

The first course was laid out in front of them, a plate with many sectioned off bits, each with a different tiny appetizer. Ling purposefully chose the wrong fork to jab the prosciutto-wrapped melon, ignoring his mother’s disapproving glance.

His father cleared his throat. “So, Greed. Ling has said very little about you, and I haven’t gotten the chance to get to know you at all. What exactly is it that you do?” His tone almost didn’t sound condescending, but Ling had heard his father throw far too many insults about Greed during their conversation the previous evening to find it even remotely believable.

“I run a bar,” Greed said, rather stiffly. His eyes darted to the two maids. If this meal was awkward for Ling, he couldn’t imagine how it felt for Greed who had never lived like this. From his stories of growing up, meals had always been either a solitary or extremely noisy and chaotic affair for Greed.

“A bar?” his mother prompted. She had heard a bit about Greed from their shopping trip the day before, but not all that much more.

“Yes,” Greed said shortly.

Ling winced internally. It was rare for Greed to not like someone, but when he didn’t, he wasn’t good at hiding it. Not that Ling expected Greed to be friendly and courteous to people who clearly looked down on him, but the ruder Greed acted, the more excuse his parents would have to treat him badly, and Ling wanted to protect Greed from as much of their bullshit as he could.

“That’s not where the two of you met, is it?” his father asked, his brows furrowing together.

“No,” Ling said, already tired of this question from his mother and a dozen other people at the party two nights ago. “He’s the cousin of the roommate I had first year. We were both invited over for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“I didn’t know he was my cousin for the longest time though,” Greed said.

Ling shot him a look. He didn’t know exactly where Greed was going with this, but he doubted it was anywhere good.

“Oh?” his father asked, falsely polite.

“Nah, our dads were estranged twins,” Greed said, and Ling had known him long enough to hear the challenge in his tone. “My dad started a cult, and his brother was a normal human being who wasn’t into that.”

“What an... unfortunate background,” Ling’s mother said. “I’m... glad you could reconnect with your family.”

“Hm, yeah,” Greed said. “It was lucky that Ed’s younger brother happened to notice one of my regulars trying to pickpocket him right outside my bar and raised enough of a stink to draw my attention, otherwise I never would have known they existed.”

Both of Ling’s parents stared at him blankly, before turning to look at Ling in unison, clearly wondering what kind of person he had ended up married to.

Ling himself was wondering why Greed was trying to scandalize his parents. There was a certain deliberateness in his voice, and Ling was sure this was an intentional ploy to provoke them. It just didn’t make any sense. Sure, Ling had also done things to annoy his parents, but they were _his_ parents, and that was different. He could face the consequences, having lived with them for most of his life.

“Oh, that was right after I switched to the music major, right?” Ling said, desperate to say something to draw attention back to himself. He hoped that however his parents got all their information about his life, it did not include details about his academic life. His father hadn’t mentioned anything about it last night, but maybe he had just been so focused on everything else that it hadn’t come up.

Both his parents looked at him sharply, and Ling knew he had picked a good major to earn some disapproval. They would have been alright even if not thrilled with his poli-sci degree, and double majoring in international relations would increase their acceptance, but music was right out. It might not have been quite so bad if he had ever actually been any good at an instrument, but his twelve years of flute and piano lessons had mostly gone over his head to their endless frustration.

“You?” his father demanded.

“Yep!” Ling said, forcibly ignoring the painful twisting in his stomach. Apparently there was still a part of him that wanted his parents’ approval despite his best attempts to squash it. But none of that mattered if it spared Greed their scrutiny. “Turns out I don’t hate playing the guitar. Me and some people from my study group started a metal band.”

Greed shot Ling a questioning look, which he ignored. He wouldn’t have needed to come up with such outrageous lies if Greed hadn’t purposefully been stirring the pot. “I—” Greed began.

“Anyway, how has the company been doing?” Ling asked. _Bribing any politicians lately?_ he wanted to ask. Part of him still felt betrayed but this, even though he should have known better, even though he didn’t know for sure if it was true. But his goal wasn’t to rile them up. If he could get them talking about themselves, then there would be no chances for either him or Greed to further lower themselves in his parents’ eyes.

His parents gave him looks that said they would have words about his educational choices later, and began talking about their business. Ling paid just enough attention to be able to ask questions to keep them going.

It didn’t take them long to turn to each other to disagree on some minor thing that Ling didn’t care about. His parents’ relationship had certainly improved as Ling got older and it became more professional than personal, but they still clashed frequently. When they switched from English to Mandarin, Ling determined them to be sufficiently distracted and leaned toward Greed.

“What are you doing, poking at my parents like that?” he hissed, then immediately regretted it. Greed wasn’t the person he was angry at, and this whole situation was bad enough already. “I mean—I’m sorry this dinner is tense. If you want out, I can help you pretend you’re really sick.”

“What are _you_ doing?” Greed whispered. “You aren’t part of a rock band.”

“Trying to keep their attention from you,” Ling said. “I’ve dealt this my whole life, I can survive this. You’re my guest.”

“That’s exactly why you shouldn’t have to now,” Greed said, frowning. “I’m trying to save you some of that pain.”

Ling wanted to argue because watching Greed draw pain onto himself was not actually easier than simply experiencing it himself, but his parents were starting to agree with each other and were wrapping their argument to a close. “We both stop, deal?”

“Fine,” Greed said, just as his parents turned back to them.

“Enough about us,” his father said. “How have your studies been going?”

“I’ve gotten good grades,” Ling said. It would be harder to avoid negative attention while sticking to the lie he had already created, but he could at least try to make the most of it. If he told them something that paralleled his own life enough already, it would be easier to stick to the lie. “And I got an internship at a music store last summer. I’m going to work for them permanently starting January.”

“Music stores have internships?” his mother asked.

“Sure,” Ling said, mentally scrambling for a response. “Giving lessons is part of the gig.”

“I see,” his father said blandly. 

“I’m excited for it,” Ling said, grinning brightly. He had grown used to mostly only smiling like that when he was being obnoxious to tease his friends, but it had been his most common smile for quite a few years of his life.

He didn’t want to go back to this, ever, he thought suddenly. It was by no means a new realization—he had spent most of high school wanting nothing more than to get away from this—but it all hit differently now. His teenage self had wanted something better, but he had also been terrified of trying to make it on his own in a different world than he had grown up in, with just Lan Fan and Fu to help him. Now he knew that he wasn’t alone, that he had a home waiting for him that was warm and safe and somewhere he didn’t have to constantly twist his words and facial expressions and self in order to get by. He had more reason than ever to leave his old life behind.

“Anyway, have I told you about the friends I made?” Ling asked. There was nothing he could talk to them about as openly as he pleased, but at least he wouldn’t have to lie about this like he would to talk about his career or academics.

“No,” his mother said, a little warily.

“Well, I mentioned Ed, my former roommate,” Ling said. “He’s a chemistry major, going for his masters, like his brother Al.”

“Oh, just like your old friends, the twins,” his mother said. “Julian is getting a degree in engineering and Octavia in biology. You used to get on so well with them.”

“Yeah,” Ling said. It would have been a more effective ploy to remind him of what he was leaving behind here if he had actually liked them. They had gotten along well enough, but it had been a friendship purely of forced proximity. “They’re great.”

At Greed’s quizzical glance, he gave a tiny shake of his head and frown, and Greed smirked. It was the first moment the whole evening that Ling had felt even vaguely amused. Even though he would have done anything to spare Greed the experience, he was the only thing that made this visit bearable for Ling, like a piece of home and safety brought with him across the ocean.

His mother continued to talk about what Ling’s old friends were up to, all calm and calculating and everything that Greed and Ling’s other friends back home were not.

As much as his parents would wish otherwise, there was not a force on this world that could keep him in Beijing once this week was up.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!

Ling had been heading to the kitchen for a late night snack that evening when he heard muffled voices coming from beyond the closed door of the parlor. Most of the rooms on the first floor connected directly to the hall with nothing more than an empty archway, but this room was reserved for conversations with guests that were more private in nature.

Assuming nothing had changed too drastically in Ling’s absence, all the hinges in the house were kept well-oiled, and the furniture of this room was angled toward the back gardens visible through the window on the opposite end of the room. Hoping that nobody happened to be looking his way, Ling slowly turned the door handle, easing the door open just a crack to better hear.

“Oh yeah?” came Greed’s voice, far too deliberately casual for it to be genuine. He had gone down a few minutes earlier for a walk outside, claiming that he felt a little antsy after the tension of dinner. Ling didn’t know what Greed was doing here, but from the coldness of his tone, Ling had a pretty good idea who he was talking to.

“Yes,” Ling’s father said, and despite already knowing, Ling nearly burst inside to demand his father what he thought he was doing with Greed. But Greed had not shown any desire to be particularly polite to Ling’s parents during the past few days, so if he wanted to simply stand up and leave, Ling was sure he would have. 

Wondering what could be going on, Ling leaned against the wall next to the door, trying to stand as inconspicuously as he could. He wanted to be able to interrupt if anything went wrong.

“Oh?” Greed drawled. “What kind of person am I then?”

“Someone who’s been through hard times and wants to make sure he never lives through that again,” Ling’s father said. “You want all the money and power and security so no one else can ever hurt you.”

“And? So?” Greed sounded more bored than anything. There was always a certain layer of tension in his voice when he talked to Ling’s parents, but this seemed like a relatively low amount. He was probably fine for now, though Ling didn’t trust his father not to turn the conversation sharply downwards at any moment.

“I know what you want from my son,” Ling’s father said.

“Huh?” Greed said, and Ling could picture his slight head tilt.

“He isn’t worth your efforts, you know,” he said, and Ling clenched his jaw, wishing that the comment didn’t hurt as much as it did. “He won’t stay with you. There’s a world of opportunities and riches here waiting for him to return to. What do you have? You’re just a teenage rebellion.”

“Ling’s twenty two,” Greed said tightly.

“But I don’t want to risk any chances of you hurting him or keeping him from his path,” Ling’s father continued, as if Greed had not spoken. “So. One million.”

“Huh?” Greed asked, even as Ling’s heart dropped. “One million what?”

Ling seethed to himself. He hated that he could tell his parents a thousand times that he genuinely cared about Greed in a way that had nothing to do with them, and that they still wouldn’t believe him. Storming in there to yell at his father wouldn’t change anything, he told himself. Even if it would be extremely satisfying. In any case, there was a layer of shame coating his thoughts, and he didn’t know if he had the right to interrupt this. He shouldn’t even have been listening in on this in the first place.

“Dollars,” Ling’s father said impatiently. “For you to divorce my son.”

There was a beat of silence, and Ling found himself terrified of whatever answer Greed might give.

“Absolutely not,” Greed said flatly.

“One point five then,” his father said, and Ling heard the rustling of him pulling out his wallet. “Look, I’ll even give it to you here. There’s no point in pretending to actually care for him, I won’t go any higher than this.”

Greed didn’t make a single sound, and Ling had to stop himself from pushing the door open wider to see if he was offended or contemplating it or what.

“Fuck you,” Greed said, angry and cold in a way that Ling had never heard. There was the sound of footsteps, and Ling managed to duck out of the way just before Greed stormed out of the room, closing the door shut more firmly than was entirely necessary.

Ling had no chance to duck into some other room or hallway before Greed looked up at him and met his eyes.

“You heard,” Greed said, still looking pissed off.

“Yeah,” Ling said quietly. His heart was beating fast, though he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t out of fear. It wasn’t quite embarrassment of his father either, though there was some of that. “Let’s talk about this upstairs.” He grabbed Greed’s hand and led them back to his room. The absolute last thing he wanted was to have their conversation interrupted by one of his parents.

They had made it all the way up the stairs before he realized that he had grabbed Greed’s hand without thinking once again. Instantly, Ling quickly dropped the hand as panic welled up, then immediately regretted the sudden action as it drew far more attention to it than he had intended. If Greed reacted, Ling couldn’t tell, not when he was carefully avoiding glancing at Greed and his thoughts were whirling too loudly for him to focus on what he could see from the corner of his eye.

“Sorry,” Ling said, once he had closed the door behind them. He still couldn’t bring himself to look Greed in the eye. “My dad had no right.”

“It’s not your fault,” Greed said, something stiff in his voice that made Ling wonder if it in fact somehow was. He could tell Greed hated what Ling’s father had said, but he didn’t know what about it exactly bothered him so much.

“Hey, it’ll be fine,” Ling said, a little helplessly. “There’s only a few more days before we can go back home and leave this all behind.”

“It’s...” Greed started, then frowned. “I...”

Ling gave him another moment, but when Greed didn’t say anything, he kept going. “At least it was just that. He could have done worse to get you to leave me. I’m just glad he didn’t try to have you assassinated or something. Which is a joke. He wouldn’t actually do that, probably. Honestly I wouldn’t blame you if you did take the money. I mean isn’t that what this whole dating scam was about in the first place? You probably could have gotten him to raise the price to at least two million—maybe even five. You could straight up buy the building your bar is in and also a house of your own with that kind of money.”

“I don’t lie though,” Greed said, looking rather upset.

“I wasn’t implying that,” Ling said, trying to keep his voice light and not like the mere thought of Greed taking the bribe was making him fall into pieces inside. “You could just divorce me because I mean it’s not like it’s really helping you in the long run anyway, and I’m sure you’d want to marry someone who could—someone who actually liked you in a romantic way and be all the things a spouse is supposed to be for you.” Why was he still talking? Ling wondered in a distant corner of his brain. These weren’t thoughts he wanted to say out loud. “Because statistically speaking lots of marriages end in divorce anyway, and we aren’t even  _ real _ , and this gets you quite a bit of money out of it. It’s probably not too late to go back to my dad and—”

“No way,” Greed said sharply. “I—Ling. How  _ dare  _ he imply that you aren’t the most important thing in the world to me?”

Ling had been all prepared to counter whatever Greed said with an argument for taking the money and splitting it, but he froze, his mouth still hanging open.

“Why does  _ everyone _ think I want to divorce you?” Greed demanded. “Even you?”

Now Ling could finally get his mouth to work. “I mean. We aren’t even really married... are we?” His voice was cracked and quiet.

“You don’t think we are?” Greed definitely looked hurt now, and Ling wished he could take back his words.

“I mean legally, sure,” Ling said, still feeling a bit choked “And it’s not—it’s not that I don’t care about you or don’t want to spend the rest of my life with you! But you don’t deserve to be stuck with someone like me...”

“What,” Greed scoffed. “So you think that just because we don’t—I don’t know, have kids or fuck or give each other roses or whatever, I would care less about you?”

Ling felt his face heat up. It sort of was what he had been thinking, but it sounded far more ridiculous when said out loud like that. He was just so used to that kind of relationship being everyone else’s priority.

“I mean...” The emotion in Greed’s voice had died down, and he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “I said yes when Rose asked me if I’d ‘love and cherish you ‘til death do us part,’ and I don’t lie...”

For a moment, Ling couldn’t say anything, couldn’t do anything. His mind was blank because of course he  _ knew _ this, but the implication of Greed saying it now seemed like a whole different matter. “You...”

“Look, if you want to get a divorce,” Greed started reluctantly, “then—”

“ _ No.” _ The word burst out of him before he even really knew what to do with it. “I—I don’t want to get in your way, but I—you know I always keep my word. I meant that vow too.”

Greed snorted, and Ling knew it was at least a bit of an act because of how quickly the vulnerability vanished. “Then why are we talking about divorce? The only ones who want that are your parents, and screw them.”

“If you’re sure about it,” Ling said, because he had to be absolutely sure before he could allow himself to get swept up in relief.

“Who’s the one who even brought up the idea of marriage in the first place?” Greed demanded.

Ling blinked. Somehow, he had forgotten that entirely. The fake wedding was his idea, but there never would have been a legal aspect to it if not for Greed, who hardly seemed the type to go out of his way to get something he didn’t actually want. “Oh. Right.”

“You mean more to me than anyone else,” Greed said. “And I’m not going to want to stop living with you or being close, so what more from a marriage do you want than that? You’re—my person. And that won’t change just because we’re not romantic.”

“Oh,” Ling said. Everything was silent except his pulse, too loud in his ears. He had long since resigned himself to his best case scenario being to live in the same general area as a bunch of his friends. Maybe he would room with Lan Fan who was his only other aro friend, or maybe with one of the others for some time before they went off to live their own life, but otherwise he would remain relatively solitary. That life would be a good one, but it was also something to settle for, a second place option. He had never thought he could find someone who would let him hold onto them as tightly as he wanted and promise to give him the rest of their life.

“You... really didn’t know?”

Ling shook his head, a little numb. “I—I guess I just really thought you were, I don’t know. I was afraid it was just something funny to do, or convenient for the moment. Or something. But no, that’s why I married you too. I’m not letting go of you if I don’t have to.”

“Glad we finally figured out we both want to be married to each other,” Greed said with a little snort, though he looked rather pleased.

“I wasn’t just pining away after you this whole time or anything,” Ling said quickly, because that seemed to be important for Greed to know. “What we have is so good I didn’t have to think about it much. But with everything else going on here, I just... This place really amplifies my insecurities.”

Greed nodded.

“We should...” Ling sighed. “We should probably have an actual conversation about this. Since we did get legally married, and I am starting to realize that maybe having a conversation about our relationship could actually be worth the awkwardness. We... should have done it earlier. But I didn’t know if you even wanted to do that. I was... worried you wouldn’t actually want a future with me.”

It was more ridiculous to think about now that he already knew how Greed felt about it. They were comfortable in their current lives, so even if Greed hadn’t necessarily wanted to stay with him forever, the foreseeable future would be spent being married and living together, which would require some sort of conversation. But actually saying something had felt like testing his luck.

“Same,” Greed admitted. “What kind of conversation?”

“I mean we’ve already figured out day-to-day stuff like chores and movie-choosing rules,” Ling said. “But long term stuff and where exactly we stand with each other is probably important.” He didn’t even know where to start in a conversation like this. Did they need to talk about finances? Kids? This kind of long-term relationship had been so beyond what he thought was possible for him that he had never bothered to think much about it, and the mere prospect of planning the rest of his life on the spot felt crushing.

“Actually...” he said suddenly. “Can we do this once we get home?”

“Sure, if you want,” Greed said, raising a quizzical eyebrow.

“This deserves proper attention and with everything going on...” he waved his hand vaguely. “I really can’t think about our future properly here.”

“Fair,” Greed said. He glanced around the room. “No offense to your place, but I don’t like it.”

“The vibes are all bad,” Ling agreed with a little snort. “But yeah... And about my parents...”

“I’m not taking your dad’s offer.”

“I mean we could fake a divorce or something if you want...” Ling said hesitantly.

“No,” Greed said.

“Alright,” Ling said, relieved. It wasn’t like he really cared what his parents thought, especially if it was something that would get them off their backs, but it was also nice to think that Greed didn’t even want to pretend not to care about him. Besides, he didn’t really want to give his parents any victory. “We can’t let this keep going on. I thought we could just stay here for the week and go back, and then they would leave us alone for at least a little while, but I don’t think we’ll get off that easily.”

“Then what?” Greed asked.

Ling thought about the life he had waiting for him back at home, lunches with Ed and Winry, sparring matches with Lan Fan, movie nights with the whole group, Greed promising to stay with him the rest of his life. He thought about the home he had once had here. There had been good moments, for sure, but it had all been so stiff and restricting compared to the life he had made for himself, and coming back had highlighted all the worst parts.

“I guess I was afraid to do it before,” Ling admitted. “But I think I need to do something to cut off all ties with my parents.”

Greed looked at him carefully. “Are you sure?”

“This... I thought I didn’t want to burn all my bridges,” Ling said. He had been so careful to leave himself an escape route, just in case his move to America went horribly wrong or his parents changed their mind and they came to some compromise. But that also meant there were still ties holding him back. Taking that final step had always seemed too huge a leap for him, but he knew that he couldn’t bear coming back here and doing this all over again. “But now that I’m here again, I’m realizing that there’s nothing worth risking the life I have back home for.”

“Alright then,” Greed said, his grin cold and sharp. “What’s your plan?”

* * *

Ling’s plan was simple, but it needed some preparation. He was going to confront his parents, and although he was sure that he could come up with good reasons to break ties for good, having something to back him up would only make things easier.

The next day, he did a bit of research and some sneaking around his father’s office and found what he wanted without too much difficulty. Another thing that hadn’t changed during his absence was his father’s passwords, to Ling’s relief.

That day and the next passed far smoother than the rest of the week so far had. Both his father and mother left him and Greed to themselves. It was probably to give them some space before ambushing Ling with something bigger right before he left, but he didn’t plan on giving them the chance to try. He was nonetheless grateful for one less thing to worry about in an already stressful time. Deciding to break ties with his old life had come as a sort of relief, but it also felt almost like a bigger jump than leaving them the first time had been. This would be more permanent.

On the last morning of his trip, he marched down to the dining room where his parents were hosting a private farewell breakfast. Mei was there as well, seated on the other side of the table, politely chatting to them. All of them looked up when he walked in, coming to stand behind his parents at the right side of the table.

Behind his back, he tightly gripped a small stack of paper, his fingers pressing small wrinkles into the sheets. His stomach was tying itself into knots, and his limbs no longer felt entirely attached to the rest of his body. Nothing would ever be the same afterwards, which was good and the whole point of all this, but somehow that didn’t make Ling feel any better.

“Where is... Greed?” his mother asked in Mandarin, twisting to look up at him. As much as she seemed to find his name distasteful, it was still apparently better than calling him Ling’s husband because she had not used that term once to refer to Greed.

“Upstairs,” Ling said. Greed had wanted to come with him, but he had understood when Ling said this was something he needed to do alone. “I have a demand to make.”

His parents both looked at him, confused. From the corner of his eye, he saw Mei stealthily pull out her phone, but he didn’t dare look at her.

“Look, I’ve had enough of you trying to control my life,” Ling said. His heart was thumping loudly in his chest, but he didn’t think it was fear, at least not entirely. This felt like the bravest thing he had done since he first moved out to live on his own, and part of him couldn’t believe his own audacity. “Dad, I know you tried to bribe Greed into divorcing me the other day, and the crappiest part is that I was  _ relieved _ because that was one of the least intrusive things you could have done.”

“Ling—” his father started, irritation sharpening his tone.

“No,” Ling said before his father could start another of his lectures. “You’ll say you want what’s best for me, but really, you want what’s best for  _ you. _ It’s  _ your  _ legacy and family line you want me to continue. I get that I’m Chinese which means I’ll never outgrow my parents or get to put myself above my family, but actually screw that. You can call me your disobedient and ungrateful son all you want, but I’ve decided that you aren’t going to be a part of my life anymore.”

“What are you talking about?” his mom snapped. “We’re your parents, of course we want what’s best for you. For all of us. You might not see it now, but—”

“Then let me make my own mistakes,” Ling said. There was a strange sense of calm that had settled over him, as if all his fear and anger and sadness and everything else that had been building up his entire life had condensed into stone. “I want you to disown me.”

There was a beat of silence, and then his mother gasped.

“How  _ dare _ you—” his father said.

“I’m not going to be your heir or get involved in this life,” Ling said. “And if our relationship has to be legally changed to get that into your heads, then so be it.”

“That’s it,” his father said, frowning. “You’re not going back to that place, you’ll be staying here and Greed will leave immediately. They’ve been bad influences on you, and you are growing  _ far _ too Ameri—”

Ling was so past the point of caring that he didn’t even feel frustrated anymore. It didn’t matter that his parents weren’t taking him seriously because he had the winning hand and would come out of this on top. “I have proof you’re bribing those two congresspeople.”

His father fell silent.

“Ling, have you been paying too much attention to the news?” his mother asked. “It’s not always very truthful.”

Ling pulled out a small stack of papers and slammed it on the table next to his father.

“Those are... my emails,” his father said, turning red with fury. “How did—”

“Did you bribe politicians or not?” Ling demanded.

“You had no right to look through my emails!”

“And you have no right to tell me how to live!” Ling shot back, even though everything he had ever been taught told him that was a lie. He needed it to be the truth. “You lecture me on duties and responsibilities, but what you do isn’t moral by anybody’s definition! Did you bribe—”

“This has been to  _ your _ benefit,” his mother said. “You aren’t allowed to complain.”

“I didn’t ask for it!” Ling said. “I don’t want anything to do with this—why do you think I’m trying so hard to leave?”

“There’s nothing wrong with making things a little smoother for everyone to protect your interests!” his father said.

“Is that how you justify it to yourself?” Ling scoffed. “You’re no better than me. I won’t be becoming a worse person by leaving; I’ll be stopping myself from becoming one.”

“You know a lot less about the world than we do,” his mother said quietly. “We’re doing the best for all of us. Trust that we’ve had similar experiences to you and that we’ve gotten to where we are today for a reason.”

Ling tried to picture his parents rebelling in such a dramatic fashion as himself and snorted. “I’m not you.”

“You don’t have real evidence,” his father said. “Anyone could have fabricated those emails.”

“Maybe not, but that’s not all I have,” Ling said. He finally allowed himself to look at Mei, still standing quietly to the side. “Did you catch all that?”

She gave him a thumbs up with the hand not holding her phone. “Video and audio can be faked pretty well in this day and age, but it does add a bit of credibility to the story, since you pretty much admitted to it. And even if you don’t get arrested or anything, and I highly doubt you will, it’ll hardly be good publicity. The last thing you want is for this scandal to get kicked up again.”

“I heard it already is, with elections coming up,” Ling said. “Do you really want to add fuel to the fire?”

“Ling!” his mother snapped.

“Get out of my life or I’ll leak this,” Ling said. “Isn’t that the easier option than spending the whole rest of your life trying to fight a son who doesn’t want you? Better to brush me under a rug and ignore the stain on your family records than to see how much fuss I can make if I really want to.”

“Get out,” his father said, his voice full of cold fury.

“Gladly!” Ling said. He turned out of the room and into the grand entry hall, past the staircase and chandelier, walking straight through the double doors and down those marble steps for the very last time without looking back.

In the driveway, Greed was leaning against Mei’s car. Through the backseat window, Ling could see his and Greed’s backpacks and figured that Greed had finished moving all their luggage to the trunk. “You good?”

“Yeah,” Ling said. He suddenly felt untethered, not entirely sure what happened next. It was both freeing and a little disorientating. Out here in the cold winter sunlight, he felt like he was in an entirely different world than the one he had just left behind.

“Well, your parents won’t be inviting me over any time soon,” Mei said behind him, not sounding particularly distraught at the fact.

“Sorry,” Ling said.

“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t alright with that,” Mei said. “I think they’ll be too busy being mad at you to really pay attention to me.”

“Thanks,” Ling said. He opened the car door. “Let’s get going, I don’t want to stay here for another minute.” 

He climbed inside, the others following him. After a moment, Mei started the car and began to drive.

As they set off from the place that Ling had once considered home, he looked out the window. This was most likely going to be the last time he saw this place, he realized with a jolt, and then suddenly time was moving far too fast. He was glad to be leaving here, to go back to the people and life where he belonged, but in a way it felt like he was leaving a part of himself behind here, and he hadn’t really had the chance to say goodbye to that. This was a new stage of his life, and that was a good thing, but it was also an ending.

Mere minutes ago, he had felt so triumphant in finally standing up to his parents, but all the emotions he hadn’t felt then seemed to be crashing down on him now for reasons he couldn’t quite understand.

“Why the fuck am I crying,” Ling muttered, angrily wiping his stinging eyes. “I’m  _ glad. _ I’m  _ thrilled.” _ It made no sense to feel scared and sad and guilty  _ after _ the fact. It had been helpful to not doubt himself when he was standing up to his parents, but even if he wanted, he could hardly change his mind at this point. There was no point to it now.

Greed rested his hand on Ling’s shoulder. “They’re still your parents. It’s not easy.”

“I refuse to be impressed by you, Yao,” Mei said primly. “But... this comes close.”

Ling chuckled, feeling a little bit lighter inside. “Well, I don’t know how to top that, so I guess this is the closest I’ll ever get.”

“We’ll see,” Mei said, grinning. “I think you’ll do fine.”

Ling wiped the last of his tears from his cheek. He still felt a bit shattered inside, and he didn’t think that feeling would be going away any time soon, but with his friends here to support him, the future felt a bit more sturdy.

“We’re finally going home,” he murmured, the word feeling heavier and more solid, now that he had cut off possibilities of having another. He was still reeling from the shock of it, but it wasn’t regret that he was feeling. The only home he wanted was where all his friends were.

* * *

“And then my dad told me to leave, so I said, ‘Gladly!’ and just walked out the door,” Ling said. Around the table in the kitchen of his apartment sat all his closest friends. There wasn’t much room for all of them, squished around the edges atop a varied range of chairs and stools, but they managed to fit everyone without anybody having to hold their plate in their lap.

“Good on you!” Winry said, and Al nodded emphatically.

“Fuck them, they don’t deserve you,” Ed said, stabbing his fork into a piece of chicken with more force than entirely necessary.

“We went to the airport after that, and,” Ling gestured around the room, “here we are.” It had only been a day since that confrontation, or possibly two; calculating the number of days around datelines and timezones was far more work than he wanted to do right then. Coming back home had made him feel a bit better, more confident in his choice to cut out his parents. It reminded him that not much had actually changed in his regular life, even if it had felt like he was upturning the world in the moment.

“I’m happy for you,” Lan Fan said, meeting his eyes for a moment, and Ling felt a swell of warmth at the pride in her voice.

“What now?” Ed asked. “Are you still going to release the stuff you have on your parents?”

“I’m not sure,” Ling admitted. “I’m a little worried about losing the leverage I have over them, but I feel like I have to do  _ something _ to make up for choosing to step out of the game.”

“You made the best possible decision,” Lan Fan said immediately. “Staying would have changed you more than them.”

“I know,” Ling said, though he still couldn’t brush off the feeling he had some sort of duty to use the power that would have been given to him in order to improve things for everyone. He had thought he had already succeeded in persuading himself otherwise, but now that he had chosen his path more permanently, old doubts had risen up again. “Still, might as well leave with a bang, yeah? Make sure all of the distant cousins and old business associates and rivals know better than to bother trying anything with me. Plus I know someone who knows the head of a news company, so that will help.”

“It’s your decision,” Al said, rather unhelpfully.

“And nobody said I have to make it at this exact moment,” Ling said. He wanted at least one full night of rest before making any big decisions. “A future Ling problem then. Anyway, what have all of  _ you _ been up to in the meantime?”

“Same old, same old.” Winry shrugged. “Me and Al went on a Christmas gift shopping trip that ended up taking five hours because  _ someone _ couldn’t decide what to get for Lan Fan.”

“You’re a hard person to shop for,” Al informed Lan Fan, who merely shrugged.

“Ed blew up a watermelon for science,” Lan Fan said.

“Tattler,” Ed said.

“You put the video on youtube,” Al pointed out, making Ed scoff. “I think they would have found out eventually.”

“You did?” Greed asked, sounding delighted. He pulled out his phone. “I want to be there the next time you blow something up.”

Ed eyed Greed. “I don’t know if I trust you to follow proper safety measures.”

“As if  _ you _ do?” Winry asked.

Ling snorted, a strange mushy warmth rising into his chest as Ed and Winry started to squabble like they had a hundred times before. Part of him wanted to tear up a bit or hug all of his friends or something, which he blamed entirely on his exhaustion from long plane flights and jet lag. He was so glad to be back. This was something worth standing up to his parents a thousand times for.

“Hey look, I only set fire to the kitchen  _ once _ , and that was because Al tried to get me to make pie,” Ed was saying, while Greed was practically doubled over in laughter. “He knows I can’t bake, only cook.”

“Hey, don’t drag me into this,” Al said, raising both his hands.

From Ling’s right side, Lan Fan leaned closer to him. “You good?” she asked quietly.

"I'll be fine," he said. There was still that strange fragile feeling that hadn't entirely gone away, but it felt less heavy now than it had before. "I’m glad I did it."

"Good," she said. "And Greed? Did your fake marriage hold up against your parents and everything?"

"He’s alright, I think," Ling said. The two of them had talked about the whole experience on the plane a bit. The trip had not been fun for either of them, but Greed had assured Ling that there had been no lasting damage. “And yeah, we’re—don’t laugh at me—we’re going to have a proper conversation about our relationship and future soon.”

Lan Fan did laugh at him, and Ling pouted at her as the rest of the group broke off their argument to look at her.

“What’s Lan Fan laughing at?” Greed asked.

“Nothing,” Ling said quickly.

She snorted. “Well, I’m proud of you.”

“Shut up,” Ling said. He tried to frown, but he couldn’t quite pull off sulky when his heart felt so light.

“For what?” Al asked, but Lan Fan shook her head.

“Lan Fan just likes to bully me,” Ling informed them all. Under the table, he reached out with his left hand to squeeze Greed’s briefly, and Greed squeezed back. This time Ling didn’t let go. He waited to see if Greed would let go or loosen his own grip, but he didn’t.

“Well,  _ anyway, _ ” Winry said. “Speaking of apple pie, I did bring some, so are we going to eat that, or what?”

“I crossed the Pacific Ocean purely for that pie,” Ling said, putting on his most serious expression. “Don’t hold out on me now.”

“You mean you didn’t come back for us?” Al asked. “I’m devastated.”

“I think I’m complimented?” Winry said, laughing as she stood up to get the pie.

Ling grinned, contentedness washing over him.  _ This  _ was family, his home, better than anything he had ever had growing up, and he wouldn’t trade it for the world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is probably it for this series. I make no promises and could get inspired later on, but for right now, I don't have more ideas in this universe that I feel compelled to write


End file.
